Coração Selvagem
by zosimos
Summary: Another gun for hire, just another day. Would you betray a friend to prove you're cold and then walk away? Nightbreed'verse - Ed is a werewolf, Roy is a vampire. 3 of 25 Prompts, mostly Roy/Ed; unfinished.
1. Alacer

****Coração Selvagem - **Prompt# 01: Lively**

Edward Elric ran.

The summer sun cast dappled shadows across his lithe form as he barrelled forward, running with all his might. His paws tore through the loamy earth, churning up dead leaves and twigs as he raced through the thinning trees toward his destination. He had nothing on his mind but his objective; his goal, that spot where the sunlight glinted brightly off of a dazzling pure, clean lake.

The breath burned in his lungs as he ran, his tongue lolling out of his mouth with the exertion. He did not care how ridiculous he looked as he scrambled up the embankment, he could hear the others behind him and nothing mattered right now except beating everyone else.

He exploded out of the treeline and nearly lost his footing as the loose dirt quickly became sand. Edward tumbled forward, splashing through the shallows of the lake and laughing aloud as he took human form, landing on his hands and knees in the water.

Several other cubs tumbled out of the woods behind him; shrieking children all his own age as they fell into the water after him. They were all in human form by the time they hit the water, naked as the day they were born. Edward nearly went down under the weight of his own brother as Alphonse flung himself at Edward and they toppled into the water, laughing and shouting like all the other wolf cubs.

Edward locked his arm around Alphonse's neck and they bumped foreheads, still laughing as cubs splashed all around them. Alphonse took a great gulping breath of air, his chest still heaving with exertion and the sunlight catching on the water in his hair. "We'll always be together, right, brother?"

* * *

><p>"I don't know how you stand it," Edward Elric said, staring into the glass half-full of amber liquid. "This entire place is giving me one hell of a migraine."<p>

"Werewolves don't get migraines," Roy Mustang said beside him. Although he had spoken at a normal tone of voice Edward could hear him clearly, despite all the clamor of the bar. Edward shot Roy a sour look, and then stole his own drink and quaffed it. "Hey!" Roy said, annoyed.

"Vampires don't need alcohol," Edward retorted, savoring the burn of the booze as it slid down his throat. "Mm, was that tequila?"

"Tequila tastes like lighter fluid," Roy said, putting his elbow on the bar and his chin in his hand. "You just bought that drink, I hope you realize."

"And I'll buy half a dozen more, anything to try to quell this symphony of obnoxiousness." Edward slid Roy's now-empty glass back in his direction. "Everyone stinks of booze and foulness, can't you smell it? It's making me ill."

Roy tapped his fingers on the bar, chin still in his hand. "Despite my heightened senses, no, Ed, I don't smell what you can."

"Be grateful," Edward said, and downed the remainder of his whiskey in two gulps. "People fucking stink. Doesn't anyone in this town bathe?"

The bartender swooped in to collect their glasses, and Roy held up his fingers for another round.

"Better make mine a double," Edward grunted, and the bartender nodded.

"You sure that's wise?" Roy watched as the bartender walked away. "That will be your fifth drink tonight. Just how much does it take you to get drunk, anyway?"

"Dunno," Edward said, turning on the bar stool and watching the crush of college kids intently. "Never been drunk."

"Why am I not surprised?" Roy murmured to himself. He leaned his elbows on the bar but turned his head so that he could watch Edward. A strange expression had crossed Edward's face and there was something about it, and the way that he straightened on the stool, that sent a queasy feeling into Roy's gut. "Ed, what is it?"

And then he saw them. Even from across the bar, Roy could recognize wolves. There were indistinguishable from the college kids in the bar, their features young but hard; however there was just something about them that screamed werewolf. Obviously, Edward had scented them. Edward slid off of the bar stool and stood, putting himself between Roy and the approaching werewolves. It was a noble gesture but futile, they would be able to scent the vampire just as well as Edward scented them.

Edward stood his ground as the werewolves stopped before him. The lead werewolf had easily half a head of height and probably fifty pounds of muscle on Edward; his tawny hair close-cropped and cast bronze by the dim lights in the bar. Edward did not back down or flinch, his chin jutted defiantly. "You might as well leave, because I don't even want to hear what you have to say."

The lead werewolf's grin was menacing, and he had yet to show a single tooth. "That's a shame, brother. But we're not here to talk."


	2. Solitas

Edward Elric was used to being alone.

He had been on his own since he was barely fifteen; since the night he made a run for it from the pack that had taken him in after his mother's death. He had drifted from town to town - it was hard staying in one place for too long, he was young and would attract the notice of the local police.

That first memorable summer he had stayed with a she-wolf who had picked him up off the side of the road. Wolves recognized their own, after all - she and her husband did not belong to any pack. They helped foster strays that came across their path and taught him a lot of valuable things that the pack never would have.

Mostly, how to survive in the real world, among humans. They even made him go to school, for a while, before Edward felt the urge to move on. He thought about them often but never went back to that hunting lodge in Montana. He was his own man, and went where the wind took him.

It took him all over the place. Edward would roam in wolf form for weeks at a time. It was easy to lose himself in the woods and forests when he did not want to deal with people. One year, when he was nineteen, he decided he wanted to see a real polar bear and went as far north as he could possibly get and ended up running afoul of some Hunters who nearly killed him.

He never stayed in one place for long. He made friends despite himself; ran with wolves and some werepanthers who lived in the deep south. Wolves had both the tag of the lone wolf and the pack animal and as comfortable as Edward was hunting alone, he did miss the dynamic of a pack ... but most of all, he missed his brother.

Alphonse was the only wolf who understood him, who got where he was coming from. That was why he felt so betrayed that Alphonse would not come with him. His brother turned his back on him and went back to that tribe, the strangers who beat them both for being outsiders and for speaking up, for not being like the other cubs.

Maybe that longing for a brother is why he hesitated outside of the bar that night. Those of the night breed had a certain scent to them and Edward's nose was sharper than most. He could distinguish a vampire from a succubus at a hundred feet and there was no mistaking the stench of the lowest of the night breeds.

He had already developed a habit of rescuing humans from their night breed attackers, so he stepped around the corner, prepared to interject if need be. He would not be opposed to staking a vampire - he had done it before, in his own self-defense - but it turned out his precautions were not necessary, as this vampire was face-down, unconsicious in a dumpster.

Edward almost kept walking. Something kept him, though ... it was rare for a vampire to be out in plain sight like this. Usually they were much more careful. Edward crouched beside him, and that's when he saw the pile of dead rats against the wall.

Instead of being repulsed, Edward was completely intruiged. A vampire who was drinking from rats? Presumably to keep preying on people. That curiousity is what led Edward to sling the vampire's arm over his shoulder and help him stagger back to the cheap apartment Edward had been renting over a bar on the bad side of town.

From the first time the vampire opened his eyes - blue, such a dark color they were almost black in the light - Edward knew, deep in his gut, that he wouldn't be alone again.

* * *

><p>Coração Selvagem Prompt #02: Solitude<p> 


	3. Found

It was chilly out. Roy Mustang tucked his hands - already in gloves, thank you - deeper into the pockets of the nice, heavy coat he was wearing. The air smelled crisp, like it was going to snow, although through the exhaust from the street in front of him it could be hard to tell.

The streets and the sidewalks both were thick with traffic. Pedestrians streamed every which way; adorned in heavy coats and scarves and carrying bags as they shopped. Most did not pay Roy any mind, he was standing shadowed between the two buildings, deep enough in the alley that the street lights did not reach. He was skulking, and he knew it - but he also knew that most people would not see him, even if they looked directly at him. There seemed to be something about people, regular people that they blocked out those things that they could not easily explain as if they were never there. It was useful, most of the time.

The rest of the time, it was lonely.

That was okay. Roy had long since come to terms with the way things were. He had advanced beyond the scope of regular person; he was a predator and those people out there were, for the most part, prey. This life was all he knew. Whatever life he lived before, whatever person he was before was gone now, for good. And after years of searching for those memories, reaching for something that was just beyond his grasp Roy had finally let it go.

He was hungry. Roy sighed and craned his neck back. It was not a clear night, the sky was covered in a heavy sheet of clouds that reflected the city lights back down. The hunger was a constant craving for blood that he was good at controlling, but sometimes it almost felt like too much. Roy had barely lived drinking the blood of street animals. Their blood was different than human blood, it lacked something, some nutrient that vampires thrived on. It wasn't like vampire biology was something he learned in school, all Roy knew was that animal blood was a last ditch effort if he was starving to death. He had a blood bag before they left the apartment early in the evening, but even those were not sustaining him like they used to.

The thing that Roy feared the most was hunting people for their blood. He could drink from a person and not kill them, it was very easy to do. But he had vague, fuzzy memories of that time before Edward found him in a dumpster, after he had been turned - and they sickened him. Some of the things he did ... he could never tell Edward. He was ashamed.

Edward allowed Roy to feed off of him - but werewolf blood, while giving him the same benefits of human blood, actually enhanced his senses and speed and gave him a bit of a high. It was not something Roy wanted to get addicted to (although he feared it might already be too late).

Speaking of Edward, Roy could hear him coming down the alley. He half-turned, taking his eyes away from the holiday shoppers and looked into the darkness of the alley. Edward wasn't making a racket for once - it was who he had with him.

"Let me GO, lemme down I'm gonna scream for the cops and they'll shoot your damn asses let me go you fuckin' freak I'm gonna scream pedo and they'll come fuckin' blow your fuckin' brains out lemme GO-"

Roy raised an eyebrow as Edward stopped in front of him. He was hauling the kid - a teenager, almost as tall as he was - thrown over his shoulder as casually as a coat on a windy spring day. "Got'im," Edward said, clearly proud of himself.

The profanity-laden diatribe of the teen continued unabated. Roy, eyebrow still cocked, glanced at the unruly dark hair and scruffy, dirty clothes before looking back to Edward. "Really?"

"Yup." Edward dropped the kid in front of Roy. He glared at Edward a second and then turned to stare at Roy.

"You gotta be kidding me, what, are you fuckin' SELLING me? What the hell do you think I am, I'm going to kick your fuckin' ASS-" he turned, mid-stream, and levelled a fairly impressive right hook at Edward.

Edward caught the teenager's punch and then leaned in, his grin menacing and full of far too many razor-sharp teeth. "You. Are getting on my last NERVE, kid."

Then Edward yanked him closer, his free hand shooting into the teenager's jacket. The boy yelped, and tried to catch Edward's hand but it was too late, he grabbed a hand full of wallets. Victorious, Edward released him.

"Hey, those are MINE-" the teenager grabbed at him, but Edward simply half-turned away, tossing two of the wallets over his shoulder. He held up a shiny, black leather billfold. "Yours, right?"

Roy blinked in surprise, and then checked his inner coat pocket. "You're kidding, he got me, too?"

"I can't believe you didn't even _check_," Edward groaned, and tossed Roy his pilfered billfold. The other wallet, a tattered dark brown leather, was tucked into his back pocket, and Edward opened the final wallet in his hand as the teenager stuffed the two stolen wallets back into his jacket. "Heh, this one's actually yours, huh, kid?"

"My name's not kid, you jackass," the teenager snapped. "You've got YOUR shit back, why don't you give me mine and I'll just leave."

"I could," Edward said, flipping through a few of the IDs in the wallet. "Or I could call the cops. You really don't look twenty-one to me."

"I will KILL your dumb jock ASS."

Edward laughed in disbelief. "Check it out, Mustang, I'm a dumb jock!" He flipped the wallet closed and tucked it into his inner coat pocket. "I think I'll keep it."

That made the teenager go a bit beserk. He lunged for Edward, but Edward simply stepped aside, zipping up his heavy winter coat as the boy stumbled. "Give it BACK!"

"You want it back?" Edward said. "Maybe you should give back those other two wallets you stole, then we'll talk. If you can find me again." He waved a hand at the teenager, who was standing seething in the alley still. "C'mon, Mustang, I want to hit the newsstand before they close up for the night."

Roy gave a final look to the scruffy, dark-haired teen whose slate eyes were narrowed in anger, and then turned to follow Edward out of the alley.

Edward was silent as they joined the flow of pedestrian traffic. He had the teenager's scent, now, Roy knew they would not be pick-pocketed again, but still he kept an eye out. "Was that really necessary?"

"Prolly not," Edward said. He jammed his hands into his pockets and shivered, his breath visible in the cold night air. "But he picked _my_ pocket, Roy. Not even Al could get away with that when we were cubs, and he could lift the whiskers off of a sleeping kitten." Edward shifted, tucking his nose into the dark red scarf Roy had gotten him a few weeks earlier.

"I don't know what you're up to. He's just a kid, Ed."

"Mmhm," Edward nodded his head. "We'll see."

* * *

><p>Three days later Edward was roused out of a deep sleep by someone pounding on the door to the apartment. He groaned, daylight creeping strong around the edges of the blackout curtains they'd installed. Roy rolled over and kicked Edward, who snorted and, after a few more kicks, stumbled out of bed to go answer the door.<p>

On the other side of the door, still as dirty as he had been a few nights before, stood the teenager.

Edward leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, his other hand on the door itself, and yawned into his shoulder. "Shouldn't you be in school, kid?"

He glared defiantly at Edward. "I want my wallet back."

"Did you give back the other two wallets?"

"Fuck you, I want my wallet."

"Mmmnope," Edward said, and yawned again. He glared blearily back at the teenager. "I'll tell ya what. You can earn your wallet back."

"What's going to stop me from stabbing you and taking it back myself?"

Edward's lazy, sleepy expression didn't change, but his voice did. It got thick and feral as he replied. "You would be dead before you hit the floor."

"What the hell do you WANT with me?"

"Why's the wallet so important to you? It's just got some cash and some fake IDs," Edward said. "And if you really want it back I'll be more than happy to give it back, but you've got to earn it."

The teenager rocked on his heels, hands shoved into his pockets as he stared down at his shoes. Finally he glanced back up at Edward, eyes narrowed. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, first I want you to go away and not come back until a decent hour, like when the sun has set or something," Edward said. "Try seven. Ish. We'll talk then."

He blinked at Edward, cocky little brat that he was. "What, are you guys a bunch of vampires or something?"

"You have NO idea," Edward murmured. "Seven-ish. And if I smell a weapon on you I will dump your ass over the balcony with no hesitation and no regrets, got me?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Pleasure doing business with you then, Rian."

"Wait, how do you know my na-" Edward shut the door in his face, and threw the lock, yawning loudly. He glanced out the peephole, watching as Rian made a very obscene gesture at the door and then turned to stomp off. Satisfied, Edward made his way back to bed.

He crawled under the covers and Roy complained sleepily of the cold air he let in. "Wh' was that all 'bout?" Roy murmured as Edward nuzzled against his back, wrapping his arms around Roy's chest. "What're you up to?"

"Pickin' up strays," Edward kissed the back of Roy's neck and sighed, sleep already heavy on his mind.

"Again?"

"I'll explain in the morning. Go back to sleep, Roy."

Roy sighed, and did just that. Edward lingered a little longer, his eye catching on the strange wallet sitting on top of his dresser. He smiled a little and snuggled against Roy, before he too drifted back to sleep.

* * *

><p>Coração Selvagem Prompt #3 of 25: Found<p> 


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